"The Messengers" Special from the set - Q&A with John Corbett (Pt 2 of 2)
Interview with John Corbett on the set of The Messengers, in
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Q: What’s it like acting with Kristen Stewart in this movie?
JC: She is so… she's so good at it. She was a little bit nervous but other than that she was fine. She spoke well and she was good. When she opens up you really do forget she's fifteen. She throws in a "dude" here and there or a "man."
Q: Don’t we all? Are you working with real crows in the movie?
JC: Yeah.
Q: What was that like?
JC: That was pretty cool. Some were real, but I hit the jackpot of fake crows. Look, I would get beat to shit with these fake plastic crows that would attack me. They'd put gloves on and then they'd whack me in the head and the arms and I'd have to hide. I was beat up for a while. Especially the back of my head. The ravens are about this high, about a hundred pounds, you know? Not really… but they're fuckin' huge and they have talons that are... They're not like a pigeon you know? I mean, they're birds of prey. They're like falcons... They could really rip you up. Falcons’ talons.
I tried to get one to land on my arm because we were out in a sunflower field and the boys would let them loose and (makes swoosh noise) you know seven or eight crows would go up and some would land in the field and you'd have to keep your eyes on 'em. Then they'd just sit down in there. I went to a bunch of trees and I grabbed like, a T-shirt, and wrapped it around my arm (laughing), like that's going to protect
Q: Well, animals and kids… they say you should never work with. So here you have both. (There’s a toddler in the film, who plays Kristen’s little brother)
JC: I'm gonna work with kids again because I like the ... there's like, a nine hour rule. Cause like, most times you're working fifteen, sixteen hours on a set every day. You know these kids get to go home. Since she's the star of the movie, she's gone every day. If were not working with her, nobody's working. So it's nice. I'll do all my movies with kids from now on.
Q: You know John, you’ve got a reputation for being the romantic, sensitive guy. But I don’t think many people know how funny you are.
JC: Right. OK. This guy is driving down the road and he sees a sign that says "Talking Dog For Sale Two Miles Ahead". So he comes to the intersection and takes a right, pulls up to this little farmhouse. The farmer comes out and he says "I saw a sign, Talking Dog For Sale". The farmer says," Dog's around back". The guy goes around back, and there's a collie in the cage who says "How you doing?" The guy says, "Not bad, you?" He says "Hey I'm doing pretty good. I saved a family of six from a burning fire last week. Pulled them all out. Even a little baby." The guy says "Hold on, I'll be right back." He goes to the farmer and says "That's the most interesting thing I've ever seen in my life. Why are you selling him?" The farmer says "Cause that goddamned dog's a fuckin' liar!" There, that was your bit of funny.
Q: Thank you. Have you seen The Aristocrats yet? Not to get off topic, but...
JC: I was supposed to be in The Aristocrats.
Q: Really?
JC: And I turned it down. My friend Paul Provenza was on Northern Exposure in the last season. He played the doctor. I've done some comedy bits for him. When he used to perform at charity events, he'd invite me up and he used to get me a list of like ten dirty jokes. He would introduce me to a crowd of like six hundred people as a renowned comic before I got into acting. Not many people knew it and he'd say like I had just come back from
They were premiering it just now. They were selling tickets and there was this big deal about it. I didn't go. I should have gone because I hear it's amazing. It's...you know...they've been getting a lot of press. They've been dealing with Penn Jillette, you know from Penn & Teller.
The movie is one joke. Told by different people. The beauty is, you can make it up and do whatever you want. If you know the joke.
Q: Yeah, the joke is the act The Aristocrats, right?
JC: Yeah, I knew some of the people. At that time I think Robin Williams was involved and Whoopie Goldberg. But I'm not a comedian. I'm an actor! I need a fucking script! I said "No man, no.” He was trying to get his group of people and asking friends and what they did. I regret not doing it now.
Q: Do you have an Aristocrats joke?
JC: No. I can tell jokes like the talking dog joke. But that wouldn't be funny! You need these funny people to create their own thing. I can't do that. I would just memorize the joke and then tell it, and I didn't think that would be very entertaining.
Q: What's it like working with the Pang Brothers?
JC: The Pangs. There's only one Pang as far as I'm concerned. I don't care what that Pang's first name is. There's a Pang there every day. I can't tell if it's the same guy, or if there switched every... (laughs) Doesn't matter to me. Still I'm that guy who can't tell [which twin is which]. Can you tell who it is yet? All I need is a guy coming up and giving me direction. That is all I need. From any guy named Danny or Oxide.
We don't have a lot of interaction, which is good. I like it when I'm in a scene with somebody and Danny or Oxide comes up to whoever I'm talking with in the scene and gives them direction and leaves me alone. Yeah it's a drag to have them over there eating a fucking bag of chips. You've done it like four times and you can see the look: "You say your lines and I say cut and you start looking over" and then here they come! Go talk to that person! That's the kind of direction I like.
Q: Is there a language barrier?
JC: No. No, I was prepared for it when they said it was these Chinese brothers directing the movie.They have an interpreter. That's going to take some time, but so what? You talk to him and I'll wait.
Q: Danny said that you're somewhat protective of Kristen, or you talk to her before the scene and you work things out together. Is that true?
JC: Yeah, I think so. I'm not anymore protective than I would be with ah, anybody in a scene you know? I want the scene to be good, and I don't want to use my energy up trying to make it good over and over, so let's like, talk about what we're going to do. So that we don't have to run through it a couple of times and then figure it out. But you end up doing that too. Figuring it out along the way. I like to know exactly what I'm going to do. Especially because we have some physical stuff to do too. So you don't get hurt, you want to work that stuff out. Kristen's doing a lot of physical stuff now. Anything can happen you know, we're in an old building. Guys up there hanging shit with wires and stuff, you know.
Q: Do you have any scenes in the sunflowers?
JC: Oh yeah, a lot of my scenes are in sunflowers.
Q: Your character is working for the family?
JC: Yeah. What they did was, they planted these sunflowers for I don't know how many acres. It must have been ten acres or more or something, in front of this house. Have you seen photos of this?
Q: Yes. Seventy-thousand, they told us.
JC: Is that what it was? Wow! I think they mowed it down now. Is it down?
Q: It is down.
JC: Yeah, because now we have to go shoot the beginning of the movie where I meet the family and talk about maybe putting in sunflowers. It was kind of cool working in the sunflowers. I think it's... you probably heard I'm one of the last people to talk but you know it's like [how they shot The Skeleton Key on location]. Did you see that?
Q: Yeah, I did. I liked it from the beginning and the middle but the ending was kind of ...
JC: But it's not a happy ending.
Q: No, but there’s a big chase scene.
JC: With Gena Rowlands?
Q: And Kate Hudson running away.
JC: Gena is trying to kill Kate?
Q: Yeah.
JC: I won't go see it.
Q: I don't know. If you like
JC: I read a review in the paper today that it ... basically said the same thing that it kind of fell apart at the end with [Kate]. And that's one of the particulars you hate to blame. We did a movie called Raising Helen together.
Q: She's really great in The Skeleton Key, actually. It's good to see her in a serious role, cause she's done so many romantic comedies. Anyway, let’s talk about this movie some more. Is there any difference between working with the Pang Brothers and working with like an American director? Do they bring a different sensibility to it?
JC: You know, yeah, well, I don't know about that. I like a [unintelligible]. I don't audition any more you know, so the first time they meet me is when they fuckin' meet me on the set. Because I only accept offers now. That's it. So I kind of hope that I'm the guy they wanted when they made the offer, you know, and that they weren't ... Sometimes studios will force a director to have somebody, or whatever. Because they want a name. Since I was in Big Fat Greek Wedding, I might be more of a name.
[Anyway,] that can lead to some resentment there too and then it's just an unpleasant seven or eight weeks you know, having to try to please someone who didn't want you in the first place. That's happened a couple of times so... there. Like I said, if I don't talk to the director the whole day, that's a good thing for me. [But] that's not the case here. The Pangs had no idea who I was or anybody else in this movie, because they weren't familiar with what we do. I think it was all good for those guys, because they didn't have a favorite that they wanted. No, "Oh, I want Kiefer Sutherland!" (laughter)
Q: Is that true, what you said? You actually don’t like a director to direct you?
JC: Ah, yeah, so I'm happy if I don't talk to the director. You know from the time I start the movie and say "Hello", and we don't say anything except good-bye at the end. That's the best. I'm not looking for you know... When I watch Entertainment Tonight or whatever and I see those behind the scenes of DVDs and fuck man ... you know, I don't want to do that, you know? It would be like me telling you how to interview day in and day out.
Q: But they have to direct you in some way. I mean that's what they do.
JC: They have to, yeah. Tell me what you need. Yeah. But on a good day you do your thing and you don't have much interaction. On a bad day you're face to face a lot. A bad day for me being, you know, I'm not giving him what he wants so that means he has to leave his chair, put his fucking phones down, walk across the room, and try to explain to me what he wants. Whoever that director is, American or fuckin' from outer space you know? I want him to stay in the chair and just say "moving on!" That's what I want.
From the get go, one thing about making movies that can be kind of fun, but it's not happening here… for example, on Sex in the City, Sarah Jessica Parker and I would... Ed would say "OK John, we're ready to do the scene where you..." you know, make a fucking turkey, or whatever. So you go on the set and everyone sort of surrounds you to see what you do. Sarah Jessica and I were, you know, say well Why don't I fuckin' open the oven here, and say, "The turkeys burned!" you know, and what would you do? Well, I'd run over here and get this and I'd say like, "Well you fucked up the turkey!" So you'd block it out for everyone.
You kind of see what works and then maybe the director will see ... let you do that once and then he'll say well "OK, what if you do this? " And then you sort of work together. On this movie [it’s very story-boarded] You know, it's all worked out so I don't have to fuckin' work at all. I don't have to like plan out what I am going to do to be more interesting in this scene than just standing there, talking.
Q: Have you found that there is any difference in the end result on a movie where a director does give you a lot of input, as opposed to one who doesn't?
JC: That's a good question. None that I can recall. No, because in Big Fat Greek Wedding, Joel Zwick talked your fucking ear off. All day long we had rehearsals, and the movie turned out to be really good. I loved him. I did another movie with him called Elvis Has Left the Building with Kim Basinger. But man he talks your ear off all day long. But that's part of his charm, and that's cool too.
Q: Will you be seeing this movie? I mean do you like to see your movies when you're done?
JC: Yeah!
Q: Even though it's a horror movie?
JC: Yeah, I mean, don't get the wrong idea. I'm not against horror movies. It's just when they come on, the ads come on, I don't really feel like, "Ooh! That's a movie I want to see!" you know? I sort of make a note to see things like Alexander or
Q: If you like southern rock [referring to a previous conversation] you should check out The Devil's Rejects. It has a great soundtrack.
JC: Is it good? House of 1000 Corpses [unintelligible].
Q: Well, yeah, it's kind of a sequel, but it's nothing like that. Rob Zombie wrote and directed it, but it’s a totally different vibe from the first movie. It's like a gritty, violent crime movie set in the seventies. It has that very much the feel of it.
JC: Ok! I'm going to go check it out. I'll go see it today. I know exactly where it's playing, down by the
Q: Check it out. By the way, what's the name of your band?
JC: The Skull Fuckers! (laughter, then a long pause) No, it’s just the John Corbett Band.
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Staci Layne Wilson reporting